Meauxbar, the Rampart Street bistro with a fiercely loyal French Quarter clientele, will be reopened by restaurateur Robert LeBlanc the last week in May.

LeBlanc currently operates the Poydras Street restaurant Ste. Marie, which will close for good on Sunday, May 4, the second weekend of the New Orleans Jazz Fest. LeBlanc, however, plans to bring the entire Ste. Marie team, including executive chef Kristin Essig, bar manager Chris Arenas and general manager Natalie Secco, to Meauxbar.

Ste. Marie opened in early 2011.

"I really enjoy creating these boutique restaurants that have a lot of soul," said LeBlanc, who also is a partner in Sylvain. He added that he did not feel that he could keep Ste. Marie going while rebuilding Meauxbar.

"I'm proud of Ste. Marie, but the Poydras corridor has taken a little more of a commercial leaning," LeBlanc said.

The building and business were purchased by real estate investors and brothers Leon and Pierre Touzet. Although the brothers also are partners in Patois, the deal was unrelated to that Uptown restaurant. LeBlanc then purchased the business, including the name.

At Meauxbar, Essig will offer a menu similar to what she currently runs at Ste. Marie, although with more classic, French bistro touches. In a recent three-bean review, our critic Brett Anderson said that under Essig's guidance Ste. Marie set "a new standard for dining downtown."

"For all the French influence in this city," LeBlanc said, "there are few classic French bistros."

LeBlanc hopes that long-standing customers of Meauxbar will continue to embrace the restaurant.

"What Matt and Jim did there, they really wrote the playbook on how to create an iconic restaurant that is popular with locals," LeBlanc said. "We'll honor that tradition and honor the clientele that they built there."